The present invention relates to a weather strip for a vehicle window, and more particularly, to an outside weather strip which prevents gap formation.
In general, the front doors and the rear doors of a car are provided with a movable window glass that ascends and descends along the door outer panel. A seal is formed by an outside weather strip, which is installed on the door outer panel. Typically, an end piece is installed at the end of the outside weather strip in such a manner that the end piece facially contacts a bent portion of the door outer panel, thereby forming the seal.
However, the conventional end piece is integrally injection-molded together with the outside weather strip, but cannot be precisely installed. This permits the formation of a gap between the end piece and door outer panel and thus the generation of noise caused by blowing wind.
Embodiments of the present invention provide an outside weather strip for a vehicle that prevents formation of a gap between the door outer panel and end piece coupled to the outside weather strip. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an outside weather strip comprises a movable end piece slidably fitted to an end of the outside weather strip in its lengthwise direction and a sliding means for connecting the movable end piece to the outside weather strip and for adjusting or fixing the sliding motions of the movable end piece relative to the outside weather strip.
In a further preferred embodiment, a weather strip body piece has a threaded connector formed on an end. A moveable end piece is slideably fit on the end of the body piece. The moveable end piece has an extending portion with a hole therethrough. A bolt passes through the hole and is received in the threaded connector to adjustably secure the moveable end piece to the weather strip. Preferably, the extending portion has guide plates extending therefrom towards the threaded connector. The guide plates are configured to guide the moveable end piece into alignment with the body piece. The bolt preferably includes a threaded portion and a head with the threaded portion spaced from the head a sufficient distance to permit free rotation in the hole in the movable end piece.